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Elon Was Right

2022-11-11 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:56 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube · mode: News analysis · tags: timely hook, self correction, self promotion

Hank says Elon Musk was right about two things he missed: Musk's audience has a legitimate worry about unknown people deciding what platforms allow, which is about vibes (who decides) rather than policy, and people flock to Twitter for reality-TV drama rather than stability.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Hank's earlier argument on content moderation, and the legitimate worry Musk's audience calls free speech

  • ★★ Hank recalls arguing months ago that Musk misunderstood content moderation, which, as Nilay Patel says, is a social platform's main product; he thinks he was right about that. — 00:00:00 · social media
  • ★★★ Hank says Musk is right that his audience is really worried about something they call free speech: not what Hank calls free speech or what the First Amendment protects, but a legitimate thing. — 00:00:29

00:00:58 — Not policy but vibes: who makes the moderation decisions, and the problem that creates for everyone else

  • ★★★ Hank names the worry: internet platforms hugely influence society, and people there whom we don't know and can't trust decide what is allowed, promoted and demoted, which is real and worrying. — 00:00:58 · social media
  • ★★ Hank says Musk's public line was that if people want laws preventing speech they will pass them, and until then Twitter should allow all legal speech. — 00:00:58 · Twitter
  • ★★★ Hank says what Musk meant was that someone will make subjective moderation decisions; Musk doesn't trust the people making them but trusts himself, as many others do. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ Hank repeats his tweet that many people who say they want free speech just want to be the one in charge of which speech is free. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ Hank admits he was totally wrong to expect Musk's audience to turn on him quickly once Twitter, still a business needing users and advertisers, forced him into subjective moderation decisions. — 00:01:27 · Twitter

  • ★★★ Hank says Musk need not change Twitter's moderation policies to satisfy his audience, because it is about vibes, not policy: not the decisions but who makes them. — 00:01:56 · Twitter

    “this isn't about policy, it's about vibes.”

  • ★★ Hank says Musk has so far changed no policies, even those he most objected to, though Hank wouldn't put it past him, and his audience seems unconcerned. — 00:01:56 · Twitter

  • ★★★ Hank says this creates the opposite problem: Musk and his audience feel empowered and happy, while everyone else, many of whom will never be Musk fans, is unhappy or concerned. — 00:01:56
  • ★★ Hank says Twitter's previous management, for all its failures, tried to listen and make thoughtful, transparent decisions, while Musk is gleefully antagonistic to people who disagree. — 00:02:26 · Twitter
  • ★★ Hank says that if those people leave, Twitter becomes an $8-a-month subscription to the Elon Musk fan club, which is not a good website. (hypothetical) — 00:02:26 · Twitter

00:02:55 — People flock to Twitter for reality-TV drama; doubts about the business

  • ★★★ Hank says Musk was right about a second thing: people flock to Twitter because of his erratic behaviour, wanting not stability but constant reality-TV drama that feels important while mostly inconsequential. — 00:02:55 · Twitter
  • ★★ Hank says leaning into the interesting has helped Twitter's growth but has been very bad for Twitter internally and for advertising dollars. — 00:02:55 · Twitter
  • ★★ Hank has no idea whether a sustainable business can be built this way, but it seems like it would be hard. (hedged) — 00:02:55 · Twitter

00:03:24 — Awesome Socks Club plug and sign-off

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says Hank feels less and less good about being on Twitter. — video description · Twitter
  • ★★★ The description suggests Musk thought Twitter's previous owners deliberately exercised power over him, and so feels justified exercising power over others: trolled, he now trolls back. (hedged) — video description · Twitter
  • ★★ The description says Musk wasn't abused, just scrutinised like any powerful person, which is probably hard; making himself even more powerful seems a bad choice. — video description
  • ★★ In a channel comment, the video's author says Musk's first move was to tighten Twitter's parody policy beyond the law and old Twitter, because looseness would hurt revenue. — creator comment · Twitter
  • ★ In a channel comment, the video's author says he is not sure how much longer he wants to fight for Twitter. — creator comment · Twitter

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: content moderation · Elon Musk · freedom of speech · Twitter

Also: People: Nilay Patel

Projects: Awesome Socks Club

Concepts: child mortality · maternal death · reality television · social media

Places: Europe · Sierra Leone

Policies: First Amendment to the United States Constitution

Also centred on content moderation: What Elon Musk Got Wrong About Twitter

Also centred on Elon Musk: Redefining What it Means to Matter · What Elon Musk Got Wrong About Twitter

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